Special Event
Celebrating Françoise Gilot’s 100th Birthday

Special Screening and Conversation
with Paloma Picasso and Aurélia Engel


In Person: Thursday, December 2, 2021
7pm
FIAF Florence Gould Hall



FIAF presents a special evening in honor of French artist Françoise Gilot who celebrates her 100th birthday this November.

Born in France and now an American citizen, Françoise Gilot is one of the most highly regarded living artists in the international art world. Since 1964, she has lived between the U.S. and France, maintaining studios in New York and Paris, where she continues to paint. “As I am still alive, I will breathe, and I will paint”, says Gilot.

Join us for a special screening of the new documentary Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot: The Woman Who Says No, introduced by director Annie Maïllis, and an exclusive conversation with Gilot’s daughters, Paloma Picasso and Aurélia Engel. They will share stories and photographs, shedding light on their mother’s life and work since Picasso.

Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot: The Woman Who Says No

Pablo Picasso et Françoise Gilot: la femme qui dit non
Dir. Annie Maïllis, 2021. 52 min, DCP
In French with English subtitles

  • Read Synopsis
    • For ten years, painter Françoise Gilot shared the life of one of the most consequential artists of the 20th century. Fiercely independent, she finally ended their relationship and terminated the hold. Through their decade-long tumultuous affair which had a great influence on both artists, this film sheds light on her unjustly overshadowed work.

      A dazzling dive into a little-known chapter of modern art history, the documentary features exceptional and rarely seen iconography (paintings, photos, family archives) and an exclusive interview with Gilot.

      Special thanks to Annie Maïllis, Les Films d’Ici Méditerranée, and Zed Productions.

Françoise Gilot

Françoise Gilot was born on November 26, 1921 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. An accomplished artist, Gilot was part of the emerging School of Paris.

  • Read More
    • In 1943, at the age of 21, she met Pablo Picasso, an artist forty years her senior, with whom she had a decade-long relationship. In 1953, Gilot left Picasso, taking with her their two children, Claude and Paloma, and in 1964, published the best-selling book Life With Picasso describing their intimate family life and artistic collaborations. The book sold over a million copies in its first year and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is also the author of Matisse and Picasso and other books. She married the French painter Luc Simon in 1955, and later, the American vaccine pioneer Jonas Salk in 1970. Gilot is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée Picasso in Antibes, the Musée de Tel Aviv, the Women’s Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Bibliothèque Nationale and Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, among others. She was made Chevalier and then Officier de la Legion d’Honneur.

Aurélia Engel

Aurélia Engel, daughter of artists Luc Simon and Françoise Gilot, is a trained architect and the curator of the Gilot Archives.

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    • Aurélia Engel holds degrees in architecture from the New School of Architecture in San Diego, California and the École Spéciale d’Architecture, Paris, as well as in Museum Studies from Harvard University.

Annie Maïllis

Dr. Annie Maïllis dedicated the last twenty years of her life to shedding light on Françoise Gilot, an artist who has long been in the shadow of her former companion Pablo Picasso.

  • Read More
    • Maïllis published essays and interviews on this extraordinary woman and curated three exhibitions dedicated to her work. She directed Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot: The Woman Who Says No to share Gilot’s story with a wider audience in France.

Paloma Picasso

Paloma Picasso, daughter of artists Pablo Picasso and Françoise Gilot, is a French and Spanish fashion and jewelry designer and businesswoman.

  • Read More
    • Paloma Picasso has been a creative force since the day she was born. Growing up in France, she was surrounded by art and was always encouraged to create herself, which she did with great enthusiasm—firstly, with childhood drawings and, later, through her now iconic jewelry collections for Tiffany & Co. and her signature perfumes.